A Guide to University Place People Directories
University Place people directories do not live in one master database. City pages identify officials and departments, school pages publish staff contacts, county indexes connect names with deeds and parcels, and state systems cover businesses and professional credentials. Libraries and archives take over when the trail is old. The table below leads with the directory best suited to each kind of question.
| Directory source | People or roles listed | Responsible keeper | How to consult it |
|---|---|---|---|
| City Search the Directory | Officials, departments, and published staff | City of University Place | Free web search and department browse |
| State Employee Directory | Published Washington agency contacts | Washington state | Free name or agency search |
| UPSD Staff Directory | District and school staff | University Place School District | District route and individual school pages |
| Recorded Document Search | Grantors, grantees, and other indexed parties | Pierce County Auditor | Online name index; mail or counter for copies |
| ATIP property roll | Owners or taxpayers tied to parcels | Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer | Free parcel, address, value, tax, and sales view |
| CCFS and license directories | Filed business people and credential holders | Washington SOS and licensing agencies | Free public search; agency record request fallback |
| Historical directory collections | Past households, businesses, and address occupants | Pierce and Tacoma libraries; State Archives | Catalog, in-library databases, librarian, or archive request |
Begin with the city or school directory for a public contact. Use the Assessor-Treasurer roll when a parcel or street address is known, then use the Auditor index to confirm a dated recorded transaction. For a business connection, search CCFS or the appropriate licensing body. For a past resident, ask the library to check the exact place heading and years instead of assuming a current University Place label was used.
Note: A published directory entry is a lead at a point in time, so confirm the person through the office or record keeper.
Search Fields in the University Place City Directory
The official University Place Search the Directory page is more useful than a plain phone list because it supports both name and category queries. A person who knows only the office can browse a department, while a known surname can narrow the search. The city’s categories range from the Clerk and City Manager’s Office to Planning and Development Services, Police and Public Safety, Public Works, and the Senior Center.
| Search control | Input type | Required | How it helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Select list | No | Limits results to a published city office or service |
| First Name | Text | No | Pairs with a surname or broadens a partial-name search |
| Last Name | Text | No | Finds a named public contact where the city publishes one |
| Search | Button | Not applicable | Runs the chosen category or name query |
The live city directory is department-oriented. If no person appears, browse the relevant department page or call its main number rather than treating the blank result as proof that the role does not exist. The official directory screenshot below shows the interface readers should expect.
The source view comes from the City of University Place directory.
Its category, first-name, and last-name controls make it possible to move from an office-level clue to a published work contact.
Government Contact Directories for University Place
University Place government directories publish work roles, not private resident profiles. The city entry can show a public name, title or council role, department, office phone or email, and civic address when those fields are published. Pierce County contact pages cover county offices, while the Washington State Employee Directory accepts a last name, first name, or agency as a search key.
| Public name | Full or preferred name when the office publishes an individual entry |
|---|---|
| Role | Job title, council position, department, or agency |
| Work contact | Office phone and email where available |
| Location | Civic office address rather than a personal address |
| Scope | Current published contacts; no historical coverage claim |
When a named staff member is absent, call the department main line. For an identifiable city-created record, the City Clerk accepts the city form, a letter, fax, or email, and City Hall can arrange inspection. University Place City Hall is at 3609 Market Place West, Suite 200, with main office hours Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This fallback matters because the city does not claim a complete employee index.
University Place School and Regional Faculty Directories
The University Place School District is the primary K-12 route. Its site links to a staff directory, and individual school pages may also publish people by school or department. The research could not verify the linked directory’s exact controls or result fields, so use the district contact at 3717 Grandview Drive West, 253-566-5600, or info@upsd83.org when the live route does not expose the person sought.
For regional academic contacts, the University of Puget Sound public faculty directory offers A-to-Z browsing, a text search, and a department selector. A public result may include a name, title or rank, department, status, email, and sometimes a phone number. Its internal staff directory requires a login, and its student directory is restricted. Recent school records and private alumni rosters should be approached through the school or archive with respect for access limits.
Property and Deed Directories Behind University Place Addresses
Two Pierce County systems act as property-focused people directories, but they answer different questions. The Assessor-Treasurer Property Tax and Value Search connects a parcel with value, tax, and comparable-sale information. The Pierce Auditor Recorded Document Search is a grantor-grantee index tied to recorded acts such as deeds, liens, releases, plats, and marriage records.
The Auditor index has an important University Place quirk: it accepts a name, recording number, and recording date, with a document-type filter, but not a street address or parcel number. Start an address query in ATIP, note the parcel, legal description, and displayed ownership clue, then move to the Auditor’s name index. A result can show party names and roles, document type, recording number, recording date, and image availability. Online records and images reach 1984; older material requires the Historical Search Index, Digital Archives, mail, or the Tacoma counter.
If the image is restricted or missing, contact Auditor Recording at 253-798-7440. A written copy request should include the recording number, names, date, and payment. The counter is at 2401 South 35th Street, Room 200, Tacoma, and appointments are highly recommended. For unavailable roll data, the Assessor-Treasurer counter or a focused records request is the fallback.
Note: Verify the current ownership lead against the newest deed and its recording date before drawing a conclusion about a named party.
Business and Professional People Directories for University Place
Washington’s Corporations and Charities Filing System, or CCFS, connects an organization with filed names and identifiers. Corporation Search accepts a Business Name or nine-digit UBI and offers Advanced Search. Charity, fundraiser, and trust searches add registration number, organization name, FEIN, UBI, and Contains, Begins With, or Exact Match choices. Trademark search accepts registration number, owner name, trademark text, or UBI.
The CCFS source interface is shown through the Washington Secretary of State filing system.
The separate corporation, charity, and trademark controls help avoid treating every business-related name as the same kind of filing.
Public results can connect an entity’s legal name, status, UBI, registered agent, and principal or governing-person information with filed addresses and documents. Historical corporation records may link onward to Digital Archives. For credentials, use the Department of Licensing lookup, Department of Health credential search, the Washington State Bar directory, or L&I contractor verification. These sources can show credential type, number, status, expiration, and discipline or bond details when published.
Library Directory Sources for University Place Family Trails
Historical phone books, criss-cross volumes, newspapers, family histories, and yearbooks are not fully inventoried on the open web for University Place. Pierce County Library genealogy resources confirm that Ancestry Library Edition is available only inside the library. Its catalog is the authority for locating directory titles across branches, and a librarian can check noncirculating holdings.
University Place Library
Use the catalog and librarian fallback at 3609 Market Place West. Ask for Tacoma, Pierce County, and University Place headings with an approximate year.
Tacoma Northwest Room
Consult Tacoma-area directories, maps, photos, and local-history materials that may cover the city before incorporation.
Washington State Archives
Search transferred county series, census, naturalization, and historical vital collections by name, variant, and date range.
The official database screen comes from the Pierce County Library genealogy page.
It helps distinguish resources available from home from the in-library databases that require a branch visit.
Historical University Place Directories Across Changing Place Names
University Place incorporated in 1995, while Pierce County dates to 1852. That gap explains why old people directories and official series often use Pierce County, Tacoma-area, Fircrest, Lakewood-area, precinct, or enumeration labels rather than the modern city name. Search terms should preserve directional street suffixes such as West, since similar street names are not interchangeable.
| Era or source | What it can establish | Access path |
|---|---|---|
| Federal census through 1950 | A household at a census date | Archives or genealogy database; use old enumeration geography |
| City and telephone directories | A person or business between census years | Library catalog and staff-confirmed volume request |
| Reverse or criss-cross directories | An occupant connected with an old address | Ask library staff for the precise year and regional heading |
| Yearbooks and school archives | A classmate tied to a school and year | District, library, or archival collection |
| Newspapers and obituary notices | Relatives, dates, affiliations, and life events | Library newspaper collections and local archives |
| Deed and probate originals | Owners, heirs, and dated legal relationships | Pierce Auditor, Clerk, and transferred archives |
Use a census to place a household, an annual directory to bridge the next gap, a reverse volume to identify an address occupant, and deeds or probate to confirm legal relationships. Obituary and cemetery references can add relatives, but they are not official vital proof. Exact publisher and year runs for local directories were not verified, so a librarian-confirmed holdings check is essential.
Which University Place Directories Are Not Public Lists
Not every roster is open simply because it is called a directory. Neighborhood, congregation, club, alumni, and student directories may be private or member-only. Chamber lists represent member businesses and public contacts, not all University Place residents. VoteWA is also a voter’s self-service tool, not a casual name browser, and statewide voter data has statutory restrictions that make it a poor substitute for ordinary people directories.
Ask the organization what access it permits and do not bypass a login or privacy control. When a directory clue matters to family history, an estate, a reunion, civic research, or scam avoidance, confirm it through the primary keeper. The site’s general request-law treatment is available on the University Place public records page, while this directory guide stays focused on what each source lists.
Note: A missing entry may reflect privacy, an old index, spelling variation, or a different custodian rather than proof the person is absent.